Redirect an old URL

This article explains how to send an old address of your site to the new one, one by one or by file. You will learn to choose the type of redirect and to catch the deleted addresses that your analytics detect.

Before you start

• A redirect sends an old address of your site to a new one. Visitors who follow an old link and Google, which knows the old address, land on the right page instead of a 404 error.
• The Redirects screen requires the Administrator role.
• You prepare your redirects in the Staging. They apply online at the next publication of the site.

Choose the type of redirect

Add a redirect

1. In the Visibility menu, open Redirects.
2. Click Add a redirection. A panel opens on the side.
3. In Source path, enter the old address, for example /old-page.
4. In Redirect type, choose 301 (Permanent), 302 (Temporary) or 410 (Gone).
5. In Target, enter the new address: a path of your site like /new-page, or a full address to another site, starting with https://. The field disappears with the 410 type.
6. Click Save. The message Redirect saved. appears and the redirect shows up in the list.

The source path is compared without the domain, without the parameters after ? and without the trailing slash: /old-page/ and /old-page designate the same source. A source that already exists receives the new target and the new type.

As long as a change is not published, the list shows at the top Your redirect changes are not live yet. Publish your site to apply them to Production. The message disappears after publication.

Edit or delete a redirect

The list shows your redirects page by page, each with its Source, its Target and its Type. The Search redirects… field filters on the source and the target.

• Edit reopens the panel, filled in, to change the source, the target or the type. A source already taken by another redirect is refused.
• Delete asks for a confirmation, Delete the redirect for “…”?, then removes the redirect.

Your site’s history records who saved, deleted or imported each redirect.

Import redirects in bulk

For a redesign or a migration, import all your redirects from a CSV, XLS or XLSX file.

1. On the Redirects screen, click Bulk import. The Import redirects window opens.
2. Click Download template (.csv) and fill in its three columns.
3. Drag your file into the Drag your file area, or click Choose a file. The screen reads the file without creating anything.
4. Read the result: the number of valid redirects, the number of skipped lines with their number and error, then a sample of the first redirects.
5. Click Import followed by the number of redirects, for example Import 120 redirects. The page reloads on the completed list.

Columns are recognized by their title, in any order. Two lines with the same source count as one: the last one wins. An invalid line is dropped without blocking the others. A file holds 5,000 lines at most: beyond that, split it.

Catch a deleted address

The Advice tab of your analytics detects the addresses that return a 404 to visitors coming from other sites and that no redirect covers.

1. In the Statistics menu, open the Advice tab.
2. On the deleted addresses card, for example 1 deleted address still receives visitors, click See details. Each address gives its Referring domains and its Lost visits.
3. Click Create a redirection. The redirect form opens, with the source already filled in.
4. Choose the target, then click Save.

The Create a redirection button only appears to administrators.

Hand the redirects over to your AI

An AI connected to your site can check what it returns for a list of old addresses. It writes the missing redirects, with the same checks as the import. It deletes no redirect. Connect your AI explains how to allow it.

See also

• Follow the advice
• Set a page’s SEO
• Publish your site